Exclusive: 'I was a shaking mess' - Sheridan Smith opens up on one of her most challenging roles yet in ITV's I Fought The Law

I Fought the Law is set to be one of the most talked about dramas on TV this Autumn. Based on the true story of Ann Ming, a mum who fought to get the 800-year-old Double Jeopardy law overturned following the murder of her daughter, Julie Hogg, it’s hard-hitting, moving and unmissable.

Sheridan Smith sat down with Woman for the most recent issue, to talk about taking on the most challenging roles in her career as she stepped into Ann’s shoes to tell her story.

You've admitted that playing Ann was the most difficult role you've ever had. We can imagine it was very traumatic…

When I got the script, I didn’t know Ann’s story, so I went online and watched all of her documentaries and read her book, For the Love of Julie. I thought, 'How has this story not been told?' The team behind the series were amazing, and I was really honoured that Ann okayed me to play her.

I jumped at the chance. What Ann came up against… It was one thing after another. It was relentless, and the strength it took for her to keep fighting and to have lived through that and to achieve what she did is incredible. I’m absolutely in awe of her, and she knows it.

Did you and Ann form a close friendship?

We did, and we’re friends for life. I feel like I know her so well. Whenever I see Ann, I start doing all of her mannerisms again. I didn’t even realise I was doing it until a friend of mine said, “You’re walking differently.”

Anne and I have just got a connection. I think I'll always have a connection with her, because to have portrayed that grief and that trauma that Anne went through, even just for that short stint, is something I'll never forget. I struggled for nine weeks because the story is so moving, but I’m so grateful to have been able to do it.

Talking of Ann’s mannerisms, was there a point where you thought, 'Yes, I've got this. I’m embodying Ann’?

The make-up and hair team made me feel like Ann. People kept offering me chairs, so I must have been doing a funny walk, but I wasn't aware of it. I'm not saying Ann's got a funny walk, but my gait changed. It wasn’t a conscious choice; it’s just something that comes after studying someone so closely. I also felt like I had her voice in my ear all the time.

Do you think you would have taken on the role of Ann if you didn’t have her blessing?

I mean, that's the main thing. I think if you don't have the blessing of the person you're portraying, I would be terrified. I was nervous anyway, but when I met Anne, she was so lovely. But always in the back of my mind I was thinking, 'Don't let her down, don't let her down'.

Every day, that was constantly in my head because you live and breathe it. All I wanted was to get it right. I knew how difficult it would be for Ann to watch it. She would come on set sometimes, and we would burst into tears as soon as we saw each other.

You've got a five-year-old son called Billy. Did that make playing this role even more difficult?

It does. No one should have to go through what Ann did. This is my first role as a mum playing someone like Ann, and I was emotionally attached from day one. I can only imagine if it were my child. I was filming for just nine weeks, and I was a shaking mess. Ann has been going through this for 35 years. I wish I had her strength in real life. She's remarkable, and she's changed the law to help other people.

How did you separate yourself from the role when you went home to Billy at night?

I had a wig on, so when I took that and the prosthetics off, and I had my own hair again, that helped. Billy was in school, so he wasn't with me during filming, and I was pining for him.

The difference is that I get to go home to my son every night, but Ann is still living this. I was playing the role for Ann but also for my son, and that kept me going. These days, I find peace in yoga and meditation, would you believe.

You play a lot of real-life people. Do casting directors come to you and say, ‘We think you'd be good for this role,’ or do you go out looking for them?

There was a lady called Lisa Lynch who got in touch with me on Twitter, and she'd written a book called C Word. She wanted me to play her in a TV adaptation of her story.

That started happening, and then she passed away, but we made the film for her. I shaved my head, and that was quite traumatic. That came about because she came to me, and I promised to make that film. Other than that, I don't know how it's come about. Maybe I find it therapeutic or something? I've just connected with things that have come my way.

This interview appeared in the most recent issue of Woman magazine, on shelves now.